James Holmes is a human earthquake. We are as ill-equipped to predict the eruptions of such human beings as we are to predict the eruptions of the earth.

But that doesn't mean that nothing meaningful came out of the Aurora tragedy.

Something quite important did, though few Americans are aware of it because it has already entered the mainstream media's memory hole.

On ABC's "Good Morning America" on Friday morning, Brian Ross, chief investigative reporter for ABC News, announced to George Stephanopoulos and millions of viewers that there's "a Jim Holmes of Aurora, Colorado page on the Colorado Tea Party site," which mentions Holmes "talking about joining the Tea Party last year."

Ross acknowledged that, "We don't know if this is the same Jim Holmes, but it is Jim Holmes of Aurora, Colorado."

As the Baltimore Sun's TV critic, David Zurawik, wrote: "So, why put it out there in the first place, if you don't have it nailed down?"

I will. The news media -- as there are almost no non-liberal mainstream news media, the term "news media" means liberal news media -- believe they have a higher calling than reporting news.

In order to understand this, I offer this anecdote. A number of years ago, I was asked to moderate a panel of judges that included a former, very liberal, California Supreme Court justice. At one point, the justice said that his role as a judge was to fight inequality, poverty and racism. I respectfully disagreed: if that is what he wanted to do professionally, he should have chosen another profession; his role as a judge is solely to administer justice in his courtroom.

People on the left think the way the judge did. The primary purpose of every profession, as they see it, is to increase what they call social justice.

Thus, the purpose of college teachers (and increasingly high school and elementary teachers as well) is no longer merely to teach. It is to improve society by teaching students, for example, about global warming. And the purpose of history textbooks is not primarily to teach history, but to make female, gay, black, and Latino students feel good about themselves. (California just passed a law mandating that textbooks include stories of gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered people.)

And the purpose of the news media is not primarily to present news as impartially as possible. It is to improve society -- which to liberals means, above all, fighting the right.

So when Brian Ross linked the Aurora mass murderer to the Tea Party, in his mind, he was doing the right thing. Is there one person in America who believes that if Ross had discovered a James Holmes in Aurora active in the ACLU, he would have reported it?

There is an additional explanation.

In general, the left believes the right is evil. Not wrong, evil. And to Brian Ross and most of his colleagues at ABC News, the Tea Party is the current apotheosis of American evil.

If you think this is hyperbolic, former New York Times columnist Frank Rich wrote that when an anonymous individual threw a brick through a congressman's window, this somehow proved that the Tea Party was engaged in a "small-scale mimicry of Kristallnacht."

Kristallnacht, the "Night of the Broken Glass," is considered the opening act of the Holocaust. In November 1938, over the course of two days, tens of thousands of German Jews were arrested and deported to concentration camps; scores of Jews were beaten to death; 267 synagogues were destroyed; and thousands of Jewish-owned businesses were vandalized -- often by having their windows smashed, hence the term Kristallnacht.

No one at the New York Times criticized Rich for his comparison of the Tea Party to Nazi murderers. Why would they? Nearly everyone at the paper probably agreed with him. And defeating the right is more important than moral or factual accuracy.

On the day after Jared Loughner killed six people and gravely injured Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and others, in an almost perfect preview of Brian Ross, New York Times columnist Paul Krugman wrote that right-wing hate had provoked Loughner: "It's the saturation of our political discoursE -- and especially our airwaves -- with eliminationist rhetoric that lies behind the rising tide of violence. Where's that toxic rhetoric coming from? Let's not make a false pretense of balance: it's coming, overwhelmingly, from the right . . . "

Lest the ABC News smear be forgotten, I thought it important to devote a column to it. But the truth is that, in varying degrees and in a variety of ways, it happens every day -- in movies, in schools, in courtrooms, and, of course, in the news media.

A year or so ago I saw Chris Wallace interview John Stewart on the subject of media bias.

It was hugely disappointing. John Stewart had all the liberal talking points down pat (basically denying there was any bias at all) and Chris Wallace seemed to have never been to newsbusters.org... not even once.

Part of the problem is what passes for competence on our side is often not very competent at all.

And since our side is so poorly represented in the media, this is a big, big problem.

It is now clear that ABC news intentionally misrepresent Holmes’ mother’s comment. About Holmes, she specifically told them she did not know if the shooter was her son.

When asked earlier if she was the mother of a James Holmes she’d replied in the early morning after just being awakened: “you’ve got the right one.” She was referring to herself.

ABC intentionally ignored her comment about not knowing if the shooter was her son in order to give the impression that she had some inner sense at the time that the shooter was her son: “you’ve got the right one.”

That isn’t just misguided. It is intentional misrepresentation.

5
posted on 07/24/2012 8:34:22 AM PDT
by xzins
(Retired Army Chaplain and Proud of It! Those who truly support our troops pray for their victory!)

Ross is ostensibly an “Investigative Reporter”. Ask yourself: if you Google James, Jim, Jimmy Holmes or any combination, how many people in this Country would pop up with that name - literally thousands. So if this is an example of his “Investigative” skills, he should be fired for incompetence alone! This also shows clearly how when you get so-called “Reporters” with an ax to grind, your so-called “News” organization lacks all credibility. Of course by putting former klinton paid apologist and Chief Popaganda Minister, Georgie Stephanopoulos front and center, credibility is way down the list of priorities.

When asked earlier if she was the mother of a James Holmes shed replied in the early morning after just being awakened: youve got the right one. She was referring to herself. ABC intentionally ignored her comment about not knowing if the shooter was her son in order to give the impression that she had some inner sense at the time that the shooter was her son: youve got the right one.

When I first heard that report I thought, what a strange thing for a mother to say, like she knew all along her son was absolutely capable of mass-murder... and she was going to mention it to someone but it sort of slipped her mind.

The free press that our Founders envisioned as a bastion against an overweaning government has self-destructed into a monotheistic religion who’s god is liberal statism. It is a heavy loss to our body politic that is barely being offset by the alternate media outlets.

12
posted on 07/24/2012 8:46:11 AM PDT
by SES1066
(Government is NOT the reason for my existence!)

It is really simpler than that. Liberals believe that the vast majority of Americans are stupid knuckle draggers who as Obama himself characterized as clinging to their religion and especially guns. The TEA Party is seen as the worst and to liberals is nothing but an organization of heavily armed racist bigots bent on destroying enlightened liberal government by force. Ergo...any gun incident must be committed by someone connected with the TEA Party or who at least has been listening to the vitriol of right wing talk radio. The Black on Black mass murder going on daily in cities like Chicago is ignored or blamed by liberal sophistry on the TEA Party.

Brian Ross had to go no further than to find someone with the same name as the shooter who was a member of the TEA Party...likely by a Google search...and in his liberal mind no further verification was necessary.

I don’t agree with you about Limbaugh. Yes he’s not “in touch” with my life because he makes 50 million a year (or whatever) and has to lead an extremely well-secured life style in the face of the possibility of many threats on his life.

However, he has been 99% correct in everything he’s said over the years, in my opinion.

What would he have said differently if he were but a poor slob like me?

Although you happen to be right about him — his fame does shelter him — you do, in fact, have him all wrong.

Everybody, it seems, has adopted the narrative that the “reactionary” right-wingers are the ones who will snap and go all berserk. Yet any unbiased review and in-depth study has found that mass murderers and frenzied assassins, while acting in apparent isolation, have in fact considerable roots with the so-called “progressive” movement, and draw their inspiration not from Rush Limbaugh, but from re-reading either the words of the Koran or Karl Marx, both of which provide a truly twisted view of the world. One from the point of view that there is a moral superiority, a divinely directed duty, that attaches to either converting your enemies, or eliminating them; the other from the perspective that mankind is somehow perfectible and thus totally interchangeable with each other. Either way, somebody ends up lying on the ground bleeding out. Or maybe a lot of somebodies.

And that is not the way for humanity to truly prepare for the future. The future will come, but if we do not attempt to shape and control it, the future pretty much ends looking like a lot of the past, with lessons STILL unlearned.

mass murderers and frenzied assassins, while acting in apparent isolation, have in fact considerable roots with the so-called progressive movement, and draw their inspiration not from Rush Limbaugh, but from re-reading either the words of the Koran or Karl Marx, both of which provide a truly twisted view of the world

How many mass-murder campaigns have been officially designed and launched in "progressive" countries? Start counting at Lenin...

The left plays class warfare and in many cases have tried to destroy the class they hate, the successful. In the Soviet Union it was the shop keepers and farmers. In China it was farmers and land owners.

25
posted on 07/24/2012 9:09:13 AM PDT
by MtnClimber
(To the left wrong is right, down is up and backward is "Forward")

“A year or so ago I saw Chris Wallace interview John Stewart on the subject of media bias.

It was hugely disappointing. John Stewart had all the liberal talking points down pat (basically denying there was any bias at all) and Chris Wallace seemed to have never been to newsbusters.org... not even once.”

Chris Wallace is a liberal, that is why. I would have liked to see Brit Hume do that same interview.

Getting his start in Missouri has nothing to do with reality. When do you think the last time he or any big name media personality spent more than a few hours in the country with a rural family. None of them have lived in a truly rural setting for a very long time.

Just this morning I walked down to the post office and caught up on local news. I went to the feed store and returned a wrench. A neighbor showed me where he took a shot at a coyote that was worrying his horses last night. On the way back to the house a neighbor gave me some tomatoes he just picked out of his garden and later I’m going to take some beans back over there.

I don’t care where they’re from, they lose the rural perspective with fame. Its unfortunate but virtually impossible to avoid.

29
posted on 07/24/2012 9:22:29 AM PDT
by cripplecreek
(What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul?)

More and more people attending college are idiots. It is part of the push for 'everyone' to go to college.

More than ever before, colleges push liberal ideology. Most of these stupid college attendees swallow this bunk whole. Most intelligent students who have a grasp on reality can see through this, sooner or later. They will question and eventually discard their newfound liberal beliefs.

There is another type of student, who swallows whole the liberal ideology, yet is too intelligent to ignore reality. Instead of discarding their new belief system, they cling to it, facing cognitive dissonace, which can cause real mental illness.

Like Holmes, Ted Kasinsky(sp?) was another intellectual who couldn't cope with reality intruding into his liberal world.

And the unctuous BOR on The Factor defended Brian Ross.
Way to go, Bill, looking out for the common man again.

Something going on between Ross and O’Reilly. He has defended this guy over and over. Calls him a respected and distinguished reporter. Ross lies to our face, and somehow the bloviator still calls him a great journalist.

Not hard for a mere opinionated news reader to put someone like Ross on a pedestal.

I’m always amazed at how uniformed O’Reilly and Bob Beckel are on Fox News. Beckel just phones it in. Just lives on his Mondale propaganda.

In general, the left believes the right is evil. Not wrong, evil. And to Brian Ross and most of his colleagues at ABC News, the Tea Party is the current apotheosis of American evil.

This is what mystifies me. The Left used to insist that there was no such thing as good and evil (people who believed in good and evil were "old fashioned" and maybe mentally ill). And now suddenly they're white knights fighting something they used to insist didn't exist?

At least back then they were consistent. Liberals insist that the earth is nothing but a completely inconsequential speck lost in a vast, meaningless, and uncaring universe. Of course in this case good and evil don't exist. So why do they now suddenly believe in a dualistic war between good and e--vil? The earth is as insignificant and meaningless as ever (other than the claim that it's now a "gxddess" and should be worshiped), but now these acolytes of meaninglessness are crusaders against evil? That's insane!

By the way, Mark Steyn tells an incredible story about Stephanopoulos. It was after the death of Princess Diana.
Stephanopoulos goes up to Prime Minister Tony Blair and says to him, “Looks like this is your Oklahoma bombing moment.”

That’s how soulless and empty and despicable these people are.
Everything is immediately political. No ounce of empathy to be found anywhere.

I sent an email to O’Reilly telling him this story, and how disgusted I was in the way he kept defending them.

Excuse me, but there are a handful of school teachers in my family, including my mother, who were definitely not “liberal idiots”! Now a couple of them could have been mildly liberal, but most of them were fine moderates to conservative, thank you!

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